It was an early start, with my wave scheduled to go off at 6:40am. So I was up at 4:30 in order to get to the venue with enough time for a good warmup and to set up transition - we had to check in our bikes the night before, so that saved a little time there. With the swim being in Dow's Lake, water temperatures were going to be warm - I had assumed all year that it was going to be a no-wetsuit swim. However, we did get a bit of a storm the night before, which I know can drop water temperatures, so I brought my wetsuit just in case. At 6am they made the announcement.... that the swim would be cancelled. This was due to water quality issues, because OF COURSE THERE WERE WATER QUALITY ISSUES IN DOW'S LAKE. Way back when they announced the venue for this, people in Ottawa expressed concern. Dow's Lake is a shallow basin in the heart of the city that sees minimal flowthrough. With the summer heat, water quality is going to be an issue. And frankly, the water there is gross. All the time. There is no swimming in Dow's Lake, and for good reason.
So the Canadian Standard Distance Triathlon Championships would be run as a Duathlon. I didn't take this news well. Not only is the run my weakest discipline, but I'd been feeling really good about my swim over these past few weeks. Going from swim-bike-run to run-bike-run meant my chances of doing well just dropped dramatically. On top of this, my chance to measure myself as a triathlete was gone. A Du is not a Tri. I was discouraged and demotivated.
The organizers had stated that in the event of a swim cancellation they would run a Du, but seemed unprepared to actually do this. They scrambled to come up with a plan for the first run, and for some reason refused to hand out timing chips until everyone had cleared transition, about 10 minutes before the scheduled start of the first wave. Why they thought they could hand out 230 timing chips in 10 minutes I don't know, and even after they were done, we still had to wait for the race start. The first wave got off about 20 minutes late, which is not that big a deal but does throw off people's warmup and nutrition routines.
The run course consisted of a 2.5k out and back loop, with the first 500m being uphill (18m elevation gain according to my garmin). I've never really run hills, so was uncertain how to approach that, but more to the point, I've never done a duathlon. so wasn't sure how to pace the first run (just one loop of the course). I didn't want to go too hard, but figured it was only 2.5km so not enough time to do any real damage either. Settled on right around my open 5k pace. They had the water stations up and running which seemed a little ridiculous, but I took a cup and dumped it on my head.
Changeover from run to bike went relatively smooth, though I was making it up as I went along so made a few errors (left my wristband on for my garmin - a minor aero penalty, but still; took a quick squeeze of a gel since it had been almost ab hour since my last one - this would come back to haunt me later in the race). I'm not used to having so many other people exiting T1 at the same time as me, and when I got to the mount line I literally had to stop and wait as there were 4-5 guys all clipping in and no way around them. It threw me off my whole mounting routine so that didn't go smoothly either. Easily cost me 10 seconds. This was frustrating as I've been practicing my flying mounts and they've been going well.
The next unanticipated challenge of exiting T1 behind most of the field instead of in front of it: passing people on the bike. The closed course meant people riding 3 abreast, staying to the left and hugging the centre line, etc. It took me the first 5km to get into the clear - I was blocked several times by other riders and once by an officiating motorcycle. After that the ride was mostly congestion-free, but I had some trouble with other riders - one guy kept passing me then immediately start coasting and drinking from his water bottle. He did this 3 times before I dropped him for good. Another guy would hammer up the hills and pass me, then coast on the way down and get re-passed. I passed a pack of 7-8 riders in a bunch going the other way and saw one of the guys arguing with an official - there were several penalties handed out so good to see that the officials were on top of it. I had forgotten how crack and crater laden these roads could be, and it seems as though last winter was not kind to them. Rough roads and you had to have your wits about you in order to navigate the potholes. The roads were so rough that the lid flew off my Torhans water bottle, so there was lots of Infinit splashing everywhere. I had taken one gel in T1 (since due to the delayed start it had been almost an hour since my pre-event gel) and planned to take one on the bike. But because of electrolyte drink splashing everywhere, the gel slipped out of my hand. Oh well, I had gels in the T-zone so would grab one in T2.
My plan was to hold 210 watts for the bike leg, which I did when I was riding. However, there was a lot of time, especially in the first lap, where I wasn't riding - I was softpedalling while waiting to make a pass (this isn't an issue on open-course races, but is my main annoyance with closed-course races). So I actually ended up with 195W AP and 201W NP, which resulted in a slower bike split than I had been hoping for - I wanted sub-1:05 but ended up at 1:07:51. Next time I'll display Average Power as well so I can push it a little harder.
T2 went fine and I grabbed my gel on the way out. Once out on the run, however, I realized it was actually just the empty wrapper of my gel from T1. Great.
Before the race I was hoping to go sub-45 minutes. With the hill I wasn't sure if this was realistic anymore but I managed to average 4:19/km and did the whole thing in just over 43 minutes, which is pretty much the only positive I'll take from this race. I alternated dumping water on my head and taking a swig of water at the aid stations, and this strategy treated me well.
In the end I didn't do very well - 13/17 AG, so not the top 10 finish I was hoping for. It's tough because I don't know how the race would have played out if the swim had happened. I'd like to think I'd have done significantly better.
Goals:
1) Swim under 26 min (swim cancelled)
2) Bike under 1:05
3) Run under 45 min
4) Finish under 2:20 (swim cancelled)
5) Make top 10 AG
Time: 2:03:50
Place: 13/17 AG, 86/230 OA
I'd like to add that I think this race was pretty well organized. The setup was good and the logistics were well taken care of. Having number tatoos instead of doing the magic marker thing was nice (as was not having to wear a race belt) but it would have been nice to know the age groups - you really had no idea who you were racing against out there. All in all a high quality race, but they really should consider a venue change next year. The swim course is gross and the likelihood of water quality issues next year is considerable. On top of this, the roads for the bike course were pretty rough. There are other suitable venues in the National Capital region that would feature nicer swims and smoother roads.
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